Person

Line, Peter

August 3, 1974 -

Peter Line is an American professional snowboarder, snowboard industry entrepreneur, writer, photographer and snowboard designer. He was born on August 3, 1974 in Media, PA to parents Norma and Dick Line. In 1984, his family moved to Bellevue, WA from Miami, FL, where he'd lived since the age of two. It was in Bellevue that Line first started skateboarding at the age of 12, which led him to start snowboarding at the age of 13. At 17, Line competed in the US Amateur Nationals, winning third place, which led to him getting his first amateur sponsorships. The following summer, he worked at the Ride Snowboard camp in Whistler as a digger. During the camp, Division 23 snowboards hosted a photoshoot for their professional team. Line was invited to participate in the shoot, and his performance led Division 23 to promote him to their professional team. Line became a professional snowboarder in 1993 after signing with Division 23 snowboards. The same year, Line starred in major snowboarding movies from Mack Dawg Productions, Standard Films, and Transworld Snowboarding (the latter in which Line is credited with landing the first corked spin, a milestone moment that would go on to influence the future of freestyle snowboarding). By 1995, Line had established himself as one of the biggest names in freestyle snowboarding based on his success as a film professional with a series of influential video parts. In the mid-1990s, Big Air, and later Slopestyle, became increasingly standard snowboarding competition formats. The advent of these new freestyle focused formats allowed Line to expand upon his success and growing influence as a film professional through participation in high-profile national and international competitions which were increasingly televised to a global audience. Line's first major competition win was the US Open Big Air in 1996. The same year, Division 23 released Line's iconic, first signature-model snowboard. In 1997, Line won silver at the US Open Big Air, gold in the very first X Games Snowboard Big Air, and gold at the inaugural MTV Sports & Music Festival. Later that year, Mack Dawg Productions released Simple Pleasures. Line's headlining part of the movie included the first backside rodeo flip. Between 1998 and 2000, Line would go on to win five more X Games medals: two golds and one silver in Big Air and a gold and a bronze in Slopestyle. In 1996 Line was in search of a new outwear sponsor and Greg Dileo, the president of Division 23 introduced him to Raul Ries, owner of the outerwear brand Special Blend and its distributor Four Star. Line and Ries discussed what they saw was a gap in snowboarding, outerwear that brings together technical functionality with cutting edge style. This conversation led to Line co-founding Foursquare outerwear with Ries’ Four Star Distribution and Ingemar Backman. Line played a central role in the marketing and influence of Foursquare as a key member of their team of riders as well as serving as co-creative director of the brand and co-lead designer of many of Foursquare's early outerwear and accessories. Later in 1996, using the same template as Foursquare, Line co-founded Forum snowboards with Four Star Distribution and film director, Mike McEntire of Mack Dawg Productions. Like Foursquare, Line played a central role in the marketing and influence of Forum as the founding member of their team of riders as well as serving as co-creative director of the brand and co-lead designer of their snowboards. Line retired from professional snowboarding in 2001 to focus on his business interests and creative pursuits. In 1999, he won the Transworld Snowboarding Rider's Poll Freestyle Rider of the Year and Video Segment of the Year. In 2001, Line co-founded his second snowboard brand, Jeenyus, with Four Star Distribution and Kevin Jones. Also in that year, he won Snowboarder Magazine's Rider of the Year award. In July 2004, Burton Snowboards announced their intent to acquire the Forum, Special Blend, Jeenyus, and Foursquare brands from Four Star Distribution; the deal would be finalized a month later. Post-acquisition, Line remained involved in the creative direction and apparel design of Foursquare until 2013. In 2012, Burton announced a restructuring which included closing Forum, Special Blend, and Four Square in 2014. Burton's announcement prompted the grass roots social media campaign #giveFORUMtoPeter which included an online petition to give Forum back to Line. Line returned in 2009 to star in the Forum team movie, Forum or Against ‘Em, which earned him the recognition of Comeback of the Year from Snowboarder Magazine. In 2015, Capita Snowboards announced the release of the Peter Line Rainbow 153 snowboard in honour of Line. In 2013, he received Transworld Snowboarding's Legend Award. From 2001 to 2017, he wrote a monthly column for Snowboarder Magazine, and also worked as a photographer for them between 2008 and 2017. Between 2013 and 2020, Line served as the lead men's outerwear designer for Dakine where he was responsible for developing an annual line of jackets, pants, base layer, and mid layer. During his professional career, Line's sponsorships included: Division 23, Dragon, Electric Visual, Etnies, Forum, Foursquare, Smith, ThirtyTwo, and Vestal Watches. Line's photography has been featured in ad campaigns for Ride Snowboards' Cappel Outerwear and published in editorial features in Pleasure Magazine, Snowboarder Magazine, Desillusion, and Unbound. Since 1994 he has worked as a freelancer in apparel and graphic design for many companies under his company, JennCo LLC. In 2022, Forum Snowboards was revived; Peter has been chief creative director since. He is based in the Seattle, WA area.

Media, PA
Miami, FL
Bellevue, WA
Whistler
Seattle, WA

Freeride snowboarder
Snowboard designer
Photographer
Snowboard apparel designer
Entrepreneur

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Catalogued April 2023.

1) Archival material
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Line
3) https://podtail.com/de/podcast/fnrad-snowboarding-podcast/peter-line/
4) https://www.instagram.com/xplinex/?utm_source=ig_embed&hl=en
5) https://snowboardmag.com/tag/peter-line
6) https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-line-633b789/